Wednesday, November 29, 2006

It's been a long time since I've purchased something based on Amazon.com's "Recommended for You" feature, but tonight was the night. The wife had something to do with it too. As I was exploring David Mead's music a bit on hisspace, I listened to Choosing Teams from the album Tangerine at which point the Missus said, "Who is that? He sounds like Paul McCartney." Typically, that's all I need to hear. But as I listened to more of it, I realized that this was truly a worthy purchase. Fighting for Your Life has a distinct Beatley vibe, but from what I've heard so far, it's not all Beatles. There's plenty of Ben Folds piano pop mixed in. This guy's been around awhile so I'm looking forward to "discovering" even more.

Now my dilemma: I have yet to listen to The Beatles Love. Do I listen to that tomorrow or to David Mead? Hmm.

Tuesday, November 28, 2006

Remember Our Lady Peace? Yeah, me neither. This allmusic.com review of their new greatest hits compilation A Decade seems to assume that everybody has a favorite OLP tune. The names sound vaguely familiar from my radio days, but for the life of me, I couldn't even hum one of the tunes. Below you can download Clumsy, which is one of the songs we played quite a bit on the radio in the mid-90s. I do remember them have a very generic post-grunge sound that was pretty innocuous even for the mid-90s. Not a bad listen and not a great listen. Just ... a listen.

Tuesday, November 21, 2006

"I would best describe it as the logical extension of 'Body of Song,' -- lots of guitars, shorter pop songs," Mould tells Billboard.com. "There's a couple of down things that are a little more loop-based."

I liked the sound of Body of Song and find myself discovering (via iPod shuffle mode) that it is quite a gem. He's an icon though, so it shouldn't be too surprising.

Smashing Pumpkins' drummer Jimmy Chamberlin reports that they are halfway through their first studio album since 2000. Evidently the drums are finished! Wow, big news. Also,

"I can honestly say that this has been one of the most musically satisfying and spiritually rewarding trips I have ever been on," he added.

A little hyperbole may be necessary to excite a fan base that the Pumpkins easily disenfranchised with their last couple of releases. We'll see how it turns out when it's released, probably in the spring of 2007.

The Beatles - LoveIt's actually less a compilation and more of an incestuous mash-up, although this reviewer thought it fails to be that interesting. I do wish this was something done around the time of the Anthology releases, or at least with McCartney's participation, because I worry that George Martin, as the Beatles long-time producer, and with help from his son, might be too reverent to their source material. Despite criticisms that he's prissy, McCartney does dabble in the experimental side of music more so than the other Beatles ever did (Fireman, Liverpool Sound Collage). Nonetheless, Love is what it is and I for one can't wait to listen.

U218 Singles (deluxe version)After two fairly complete compilations, U2 decided to capitalize on their success in the oughts with an album that weighs heavily with the love-it-or-leave-it All That You Can't Leave Behind. Considering many only buy the greatest hits package and leave the albums to the true fans, it's a tragedy that so much of their earlier career is left off in lieu of the new U2, which is really only a U2 trying to be the old U2. Nonetheless, it's U2 all the same and any fan will likely enjoy this compilation.

Oasis - Stop the ClocksNot unlike how U2 kept their old tunes off, Oasis stuck with tunes from their peak (Definitely Maybe and Morning Glory era). In fact, their crappiest record, Be Here Now, doesn't even have a track represented on this collection. So, if you're buying a holiday present for anybody who once sang along to Wonderwall (how can you not?!), then this will be an excellent choice and will likely turn them on to lesser known Oasis classics.

Sunday, November 19, 2006

The Beatles' Love album comes out here in the USA on 21 November (20 November everywhere else). If you just can't wait that long, you can listen to the whole album for free online. That's right, I said free. Of course at that price, be prepared for a few delays in the streaming.

Thursday, November 16, 2006

Wisely has a new video for the title song of his latest CD Parador. I'm not a fan of videos for the most part, but watching the video reminded me how much I enjoy this song. It's definitely worth checking out if you're not against inky boobies.

In other Wisely news, he has a new tune with who seems to be his best friend Andy Dick ... and it's a Christmas song. Download Happy B-Day JC via iTunes. Also in Dick news, Wisely is producing his music CD that will come out sometime next year. That should be ... something.

And finally, the best Wisely news. Evidently Jenna Fischer (aka Pam in The Office) will be starring in Wisely's video for Through Any Window. No word on whether inky boobies will be involved, but regardless I can't wait.

Monday, November 13, 2006

Yahoo! Music is reporting that the Beatles' catalog will be available for digital download "soon". Although don't expect to find them on iTunes. Earlier this year Apple Computer won a trademark infringement case over Apple Corps (the Beatles' publishing company).

Eddy Cue, Apple’s vice president of iTunes, said in a May a Bloomberg News interview. “We certainly will do everything we can to get them on iTunes,” he said at that time. “The Beatles aren’t available in any digital format today but they are going to be one day. We certainly hope that happens on iTunes.’”

The Smithereens are back. In January, they will release Meet The Smithereens!, a song-by-song tribute to The Beatles' Meet the Beatles! You could always tell by the music of The Smithereens that they were big fans of The Beatles, particularly of their early years. This should be fun.

Saturday, November 11, 2006

Could it be? Could TV Eyes finally be seeing a release date? TV Eyes is a band featuring former Jellyfishers Roger Joseph Manning Jr. and Jason Falkner, along with Falkner's frequent collaborator Brian Reitzell. This synth-driven new wavish 80s-type project began way back in 2000 and has only produced a 12" single for She's a Study that sold out fast. While browsing Amazon, though, I discovered this: it looks like TV Eyes is getting a release in Japan on 11/17! I checked out Roger's site as well as the official TV Eyes site to get any news on it, but no luck. This could be extremely cool news in a season in which we already heard the excellent L.E.O. release. For now, keep your fingers crossed, sample tracks here, and watch the video for She's a Study here.

Friday, November 10, 2006

The Magic Numbers' new album Those the Brokes came out this week in the UK, but as of yet, no news of a domestic release. Sounds like more of the same. I enjoyed the first album, but honestly, I didn't listen to it much after I first picked it up.

I'm not one to get too riled up about stupid lists that pop up on blogs, but I call bullshit on this one. Say what you will about Julian Lennon's 80s albums. They are far from being timeless, but they do have a place and they did produce a few good tunes. But the two albums he released in the 90s certainly compete with each other for being the best of his career.

1991's Help Yourself is a richly produced pop gem and makes for great headphone listening. The hit Saltwater, as precious and earnest as it is, will likely go down as his best song. The other tunes are quite varied in style and mood, which makes for a nicely balanced album.

1998's Photograph Smile took the focus away from lush production and placed it squarely on the simplicity of melody. Virtually every song on this one could have been a single for anybody other than Julian Lennon. It's incredibly obvious, and perhaps unfortunate, that he's a huge Beatles fan because this is the type of album a Beatles fan makes, which makes it an excellent listen. I saw his concert in support of this album and it was indeed exciting. His resemblance to his father is chilling.

Julian is never going to win over the cool crowds like his overrated brother might, and he'll never match his father's ethos by any means. But what a cruel comparison anyway. Let his music stand on its own.

With that said, it appears he'll have a new album out next year. It's only taken nine years.

Wednesday, November 08, 2006

Rumor has it that Matthew Sweet's Girlfriend is a featured tune on PlayStation 2's Guitar Hero II! How awesome would it be to jam along to one of my all-time favorite songs!! I need to get this game!!! I need to get PlayStation 2 first I guess!!!! I need to stop talking to myself and using excessive exclamation points!!!!!

Saturday, November 04, 2006

The Aerosmith of Our Generation and The Overblogged Act of the Year are coming to Des Moines to wow nobody. Red Hot Chili Peppers and Gnarls Barkley will be at the Events Center on March 2. Are you willing to pay $57.50 to see Under the Bridge live? Me neither.

Friday, November 03, 2006

The Charlatans (UK) are releasing a singles collection on Monday -- in the UK only. Bummer. They've never been a breakthrough band here in the states but they've been around forever, hence the title of the collection: Forever. The Singles.

Their most recent album Simpatico was the first ones I've taken note of in a long time. It's very good. When the Lights Go Out in London is one of my favorite tunes of the year. And of course if you'd like, you can order the new collection thanks to Amazon. Back in my day, we had to go to cool record stores to find the imports.

They've put together a cool medley of the tunes featured on the collection, which you can listen to here. Do the whole right-clicky thing to download it.

"A Friend Of Pat Robertson" features 5 new tracks, including the EP's title track, "72 Hours," "7 Dot 1," "Emily Sang To Me," and "If Tears Were Balloons." The CD will come in a full-color digipack.

Wow, a full-color digipack! I have been waiting for one of those for YEARS!

You can listen to A Friend of Pat Robertson and 7 Dot 1 on theirspace, but that's really not news now is it. AFoPR is pretty good, but 7D1 kinda sucks. Never know. Things tend to sound better on a stereo, not a work computer. Imagine that. You can order the EP and listen to clips from all the songs here. They also expect it to be available on iTunes.

Thursday, November 02, 2006

You can now preview four tracks from the upcoming Beatles Love release. Hear reworked versions of Strawberry Fields Forever, Octopus' Garden, Lady Madonna, and While My Guitar Gently Weeps. Sounds cool if I could listen longer than 3 seconds without the aggravating "audio buffering..." crap coming up. Go here. You must be registered. If you're not, this might be a good reason to do so. If you choose not to, well, move on and wait until 11/21.

About the album:

The album features 26 tracks re-worked by George and Giles Martin for the LOVE show in Las Vegas, an incredible music and visual experience created out of the collaboration between The Beatles and Cirque Du Soleil. The result is an unprecedented approach to the music.LOVE will be released on Monday November 20th. The stereo CD will contain 78 minutes of music, and features 26 tracks.

Simultaneously released will be a special 2 disc edition that will include the stereo CD and an Audio only DVD containing a slightly extended version in amazing 5.1surround sound.

Looking for a way to revisit Wings-era 70s rock without actually listening to old music you've heard a thousand times? Vanilla has released their self-titled debut album and it sounds exactly as if you discovered a new band from 1977.